The Bridge to Belle Island by Julie Klassen

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Christian Fiction
Genre: Mystery, Romance
Content: Clean


 
After a humiliating mistake, lawyer Benjamin Booker resolves to never again trust a beautiful woman. When an old friend is killed, the senior partner isn't satisfied with Bow Street's efforts and asks Benjamin to investigate. Eager to leave London for a while, Benjamin agrees. Evidence takes him to a remote island on the Thames, a world unto itself, shrouded in mist and mystery. Soon he finds himself falling for the main suspect--a woman who claims not to have left the island in ten years. But should he trust her?

I always enjoy Julie Klassen's books so I was really looking forward to reading this one. Mostly I liked it, but it is a departure from her other books. All of her other books are romances that include a little bit of mystery, but this time around we have a mystery that includes a little romance. I have to say that I thought the romance felt a little bland in this one, but I'm not really surprised about that, since the book focused more on the mystery than the romance. I think because it's a Julie Klassen book, I automatically expected the romance to be more like her other books. That being said, this was not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting.

Overall this was a good read with a pretty solid mystery plot and characters that were easy to like. For the author's first mystery, it was pretty good. I've read so many mysteries that I was able to pick out who the perpetrator was easily, but I wouldn't say it was glaringly obvious. I enjoyed the book despite that. I'm not sure if the author will keep writing mysteries, but I would read another one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bethany House Publishers for providing me with an ARC of this book.